Serving police officer sentenced for assault on bar manager

A serving Metropolitan Police officer has been sentenced after he headbutted a bar manager in a cocktail bar in Monument.

Following an investigation by the City of London Police, Luke Wilson, 28,  from Gravesend, was sentenced on Tuesday 29 March 2022 at Westminster Magistrates Court for common assault and battery.

Wilson was sentenced to ten weeks imprisonment, suspended for 12 months, 80 hours unpaid community service, pay £700 in costs, pay £200 compensation to the victim and pay a victim surcharge.

He was previously found guilty by a district judge at the same court, after a one-day trial on Wednesday 9 March 2022.

Temporary Detective Constable MacLennan, from the City of London Police, said:

“This was an unprovoked assault on a victim who was simply trying to do his job. The victim felt  he could trust the group due to their profession, but his trust in the police has now been damaged by this attack.

“I hope that the sentence passed down today brings some justice to the victim and demonstrates that no-one is exempt when it comes to upholding the law in the City.”

The assault took place on Friday 2 July 2021, when Wilson attended a cocktail bar in Monument with a group of off-duty police officers.

The group arrived at the bar at 7.30pm, but were told that there were too many of them according to coronavirus restrictions in place at the time.

The bar manager allowed the group entry to the venue, but told them they would have to be seated across different tables in line with the rule of six restriction.

CCTV footage showed that by 8pm, some of the group had started moving between tables which resulted in there being ten people sat at one of the tables.

The bar manager spoke to Wilson and explained that this wasn’t allowed. He then approached the group of ten and explained that four of them would have to move to another table.

Wilson followed the bar manager to the table, but remained standing up. The bar manager then asked Wilson to return to his table. CCTV footage shows Wilson squaring up to the victim and putting his face within a few inches of the victims.

Further footage shows the victim taking a step backwards to distance himself from Wilson. Wilson then took a further step forward to close the gap between him and the victim. Wilson then headbutted the victim which resulted in the victim sustaining minor injuries.

Wilson was interviewed the following day on Saturday 3 July 2021 and denied the offence, claiming he felt threatened by the victim.

Wilson was shown CCTV footage of the victim standing with his hands in his back pockets and not appearing to be behaving aggressively towards Wilson. When this was pointed out to him, Wilson declined to comment further.